Harvesters such as combine harvesters, windrowers, tractors, and forage harvesters, are equipped with headers to harvest crops in a field. A typical header includes a header frame carrying one or more harvesting elements, such as snap rolls or cutter bars, that engage the crops to separate the crop material from the field for collection by the harvester. The header also typically includes some type of conveying mechanism, such as a pair of rotating augers or belts, that will convey collected crop material toward a center of the header and rearwardly into the harvester for further processing and/or transport. For some types of harvesters, such as combine harvesters, various specific header constructions are known for harvesting specific crops, e.g., corn headers for harvesting corn, wheat headers for harvesting wheat, etc.
A typical corn header construction includes a header frame carrying a plurality of row units for harvesting corn. Each row unit includes a pair of spaced apart deck plates. A corn stalk channel is defined between two paired deck plates to define a stalk channel distance, which is roughly equal to the diameter of a corn stalk. As the vehicle travels through a field where corn is present, corn stalks enter the corn stalk channels. Below the deck plates, a pair of snap rolls are arranged that engage the caught corn stalks to pull the corn stalks downward. The corn stalk channel between the deck plate is wide enough to allow entry of the corn stalks, but is too narrow for the corn ears to pass through the channel. As the snap rolls pull the corn stalk downwardly, the corn ear eventually impacts the deck plates and snaps off of the corn stalk, separating the corn ear from the field. The corn stalks may be cut before, during, or after the corn ear is being separated from the stalk to remove the stalk from the field and, in some harvesters, be processed into residue for spreading on the field. The separated corn ears can then be conveyed toward a processing device.
A typical grain header, on the other hand, includes a header frame carrying one or more cutting elements, such as cutter bars, that reciprocate to engage and cut the wheat to collect the grain. The cutting element(s) can be reciprocated by an epicyclical drive or wobble box, with the height of the cutting elements, relative to the ground, determining how much of the crop is separated from the field, i.e., the cut height of the stubble that remains on the field. After the crop material is cut by the cutting element(s), a rotating auger or draper belt can transport the cut crop material toward a center of the header to a header conveyor, which conveys the crop material rearwardly for further processing.
Regardless of whether the header is a corn header or a grain header, many header constructions also include a plurality of dividers spaced apart from each other along the width of the header. The dividers of a corn header or a grain header help to direct crop material toward the stalk channels or cutting elements, respectively, during travel of the vehicle. In this respect, the dividers account for unevenness in the rows of crops, ensuring that the crops enter the stalk channels or cutting elements in a row-wise fashion and encouraging an even cut height of the crops.
On many combine harvesters, the header is removably mounted to and supported by the feeder housing, which is carried by the chassis of the combine. Generally, adjusting an angle of the feeder face of the feeder housing requires manual feeder face adjustment using wrenches.